February 2013

  • Thrillers for every taste, part 1

    A thriller’s a thriller, right? Wrong! Very different things set each reader’s pulse racing. Here are some of our favorite writers in a wide array of suspenseful fiction, with suggestions for further reading; tune in next week for part 2. Jeff Abbott writes relentless, high octane intrigue with action on every page. Also try: Robert Ludlum, James Patterson, Thomas… Continue reading

  • On the Pitch: Books about soccer (Go, Sounders!)

    I am a thematic reader – I love to read summer books in the summer months, books chock full of snow in the winter months, books about family during the holidays and about love around Valentine’s Day. This, as an avid soccer fan and supporter of the Seattle Sounders, means that this time of year… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: Science fiction, satire and fantasy

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Jodi Picoult

     What a treat it is to host Jodi Picoult again at the Seattle Public Library! She will be reading from and discussing her newest book, The Storyteller (just released this week!), on Thursday, March 14, at 7 p.m. at the Central Library. The Storyteller is a holocaust novel “written with grace and sensitivity,” says librarian Misha Stone in a… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: Science fiction mystery blends

    Science Fiction and Mystery may be starkly separated genres for some, but recently I love the way they blend together in three great series. The examples below range from the lighter, funny end of things to the traditional and even the darker genre mixtures. Check them out if you’d like to see for yourself. KOP,… Continue reading

  • Let us now praise famous fish

    I commercial fished in Alaska for a few years in the late 1980s, and never really got over it. It was an exciting and humbling experience – at the mercy of tides and weather, floating islands of seaweed, rain by the foot, sleep deprivation, wet socks, constant gear repairs, other fishermen, bears. Here are a… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: Traveling to Thailand

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: More love and triangles

    Jared recently wrote about some science fiction novels with love triangles at their core. I just read two books in a recent teen series that features a great, complex love triangle while telling a compelling story of survival: Amy Kathleen Ryan’s Sky Chasers novels, Glow and Spark. Glow sets up the series beautifully, with complex characters, suspense… Continue reading

  • Lust to love

    If you’re looking for love (or lust!) this February, look no further than the library! And who knows? You may cross paths with the person of your dreams as you reach for one of these sizzling reads. The Super Bowl may be over, but you can still score in the game of love! Especially if… Continue reading

  • Crime: Inappropriate morality tales – Mysteries for teens

    “Do you have something inappropriate?” asked a teen patron at the Beacon Hill library. “Lots,” I countered and pulled out Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan. What can be more horrific than plotting to kill your teacher? “No,” he whispered violently, “I mean like sex.” Oh, that kind of inappropriate, I chortled inside. Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Seattle novelist Erica Bauermeister reads local

    Seattle novelist Erica Bauermeister’s third novel, The Lost Art of Mixing, was just released, reuniting Seattle readers with the group of Seattle friends we first met in The School of Essential Ingredients. A review in Publishers Weekly said: “Bauermeister’s prose is strong, particularly when it comes to food, and her novel brings to life the… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: The fantastic folly of youth

    It’s really not a secret that some of the best science fiction written in the past ten years has been classified as young adult. While most people acknowledge the distinction between adult and young adult science fiction does not denote quality, I find that few science fiction fans read juvenile genre fiction, besides some of the… Continue reading

  • Richard III, part deux: Return of the Return of the King!

    My friends and colleagues will tell you I’m a bit of a bone nut – osteophile? – witness the lifelike replica of a Roman Gladiator’s skull that grins on my desk. Plus I’m a Shakespeare fan, so I was totally jazzed over the recent revelation that a skeleton found under a Leicester car park had… Continue reading

  • Don’t miss these five novels for Black History Month

    The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis Personal stories of the Great Migration come alive through the children and grandchildren (the 12 tribes) of Hattie Shepherd, a woman who left the South in 1923 in hopes of finding a better life in Philadelphia. Continue reading

  • Extreme outdoors

    Although I’m fairly wimpy in “real life,” I enjoy the vicarious experience of reading about other peoples’ travails in harsh climates. Here are some favorite tales of true adventure and survival (with a bit of history thrown in): The Cruelest Miles by Gay Salisbury When isolated Nome, Alaska, was struck by a diphtheria epidemic in… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Author Cory Doctorow tells us what he’s reading

    Cory Doctorow kicks off his book tour for Homeland with a reading at the Central Library on Tuesday, February 5 (at 7 p.m.; doors at 6:30 p.m.). We asked him what he was reading, and he kindly took the time to tell us about five books that are coming out this spring. I happen to… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: Love and triangles

    It may be only the beginning of February, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start talking about love. But this being a science fiction and fantasy column, we’re talking about love stories from a different angle. To be more accurate, triangles. Here are three science fiction and fantasy romances that feature all sorts of romantic… Continue reading